Letter from Zimbabwe

There is only one real subject of discussion at this weekend’s Zanu-PF Congress in Harare: when will Robert Mugabe stand down? The old man — whom party loyalists now refer to as the ‘second son of God’ — will be 86 in February.

There is only one real subject of discussion at this weekend’s Zanu-PF Congress in Harare: when will Robert Mugabe stand down? The old man — whom party loyalists now refer to as the ‘second son of God’ — will be 86 in February. It would take a miracle for him to stand in the next presidential elections and if he did, everyone knows that — however much violence he employed — he would lose. He is hated in Zimbabwe and a recent opinion poll by a respected local company, MOPI, recorded him enjoying 10 per cent support. There are two prime contenders for the succession. Mugabe’s own choice, and the favourite among the murderous Zanu-PF ruling elite who have governed Zimbabwe since independence, is Emmerson Mnangagwa.